


Safe in the Dark

by tiredbard



Series: East Coast Vampire BS [1]
Category: Lost Boys (Movies), Original Work
Genre: Blood and Violence, Found Family, Gen, Look this is a 7 year project, Multi, because Vampires, half vampire loopholes ftw, it's been on ff.net and wattpad and everywhere but here so have the polished-shit version instead of, one (1) straight character. only one. that's it, sexual blood drinking eventually sometimes, whatever the hell it was before
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2019-09-18 13:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16995504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiredbard/pseuds/tiredbard
Summary: "Drink the kool-aid, kid.  Death has never felt so alive."Alex has been on the street for six years, criss-crossing the US in a haze of running from her past, from her parents, from everything that used to be.  Old Orchard is pretty, little and snowcapped and calm in the way she's found a lot of New England to be.A brief run-in late at night leads to moving in with the first housemates she's had in years- and definitely the strangest ones ever.  They seem friendly enough- they seem to like her- she thinks she likes them.If only her head would stop screaming danger.Everything comes with a price.Safety.Love.Family.Sometimes, that price is blood.Sometimes it's just too high.





	1. Alex 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is a re-write of a very long running book-baby of mine. Inspired over seven years ago when I was deep in my obsession with the Lost Boys.  
> The vampire lore comes pretty heavily from that movie, with a couple tweaks here and there to suit my purposes.  
> Enjoy.  
> ~ The Magician

Sometimes memories make difficult situations even harder. When you can’t separate the strange hand around your throat from the one it used to be long enough to struggle. When your brain says _shut up,_ just be _quiet,_ let it pass, that you’ll be fine in the morning, it’ll be over soon.

_Except this is not memory._

_Memory cannot hurt you._

_The stranger can._

_The stranger will leave you bleeding or dead in this alley unless-_

“ _Fucking bitch_!” Alex falls to the ground, choking as air comes back to her lungs, hands and knees aching from hitting the pavement. Dizzy and blind and still stuck in that half reality between now and then, between adult and child-

Her assailant recovered quickly from the knee to his gut, and drags her back to her feet by the hair. The screaming tears her already sore throat raw, and her ears are ringing so loud she doesn’t register the rest of their words-

They drop her again.

The second connection to the ground is less expected and her face slams down before she can catch herself. She’s barely aware of the sounds of the outright fight going on above her head. The February air is biting her lungs and she can barely even make out the ground an inch from her eyes. It’s not even clear how long she spends there, until a loud _snap_ cuts the night like a gunshot and she scrambles back from the sound.

“You alright, kid?” it takes her a moment to focus on the person now offering her a hand up, though she accepts it, and leans into the wall once she’s upright in the hopes it will help her head stop spinning. She can feel the breakdown coming. The danger is gone but the panic isn’t, her chest is tight and her lungs don’t seem to be taking enough air.

“Still with me?” Right. The other guy, she tried to focus on him in the dark, but making out details was pretty much useless.

“Yeah...” Her voice was barely a whisper, her throat is still raw and her neck is pulsing with pain “Thank you.” The longer she stands there the more her instincts start screaming at her to just bolt, despite the fact that she’s already burned out, people don’t usually do shit like that free of charge.

It’s just not how the world works.

“Here,” The man shrugs off his coat and offers it to her, “Take it, I don’t live far. Try not to get yourself killed, alright kid?” He leaves it in her hands and walks away, she stays and listens to his footsteps fade, before pulling the coat on and taking off down the street in the opposite direction.

Her pace picks up erratically, shifting between walking and running as anxiety spikes adrenalin and they play a back and forth, her lungs sometimes overfull, other times she can’t seem to draw any air at all. She runs until she hits snow.

    The abrupt change in texture under her shoes almost trips her up, not paying attention enough to realize she was heading off the cleared surface of the streets. After a moment of trying, and failing to catch her breath, she lets her knees buckle. The world spins, she can feel tears burning tracks down her face.

     _It’s over._

     _You left._

     _It was a stranger._

     _It wasn’t him._

    Over and over the words repeat, her breathing gradually slows. Her eyes focus on the snow reflecting moonlight. It’s soaking through her jeans and she can feel her legs starting to numb from the cold. She picks up a handful and watches parts of it stain pink from where she’s bleeding. She holds it until her fingers go numb.

_Get up._

_Back on your feet._

_Keep moving._

It was so long ago now. It shouldn’t matter anymore, but she can’t help it, she can’t control what her mind dictates as familiar, as the switch triggering those thoughts.

Six years.

She hadn’t gone to school that day; she was gone, done, she took her savings and a backpack full of things and she left. Every cent she’d been able to scrounge, every document she might need that she could find.

Six years took her to the west coast and back to the east, leaving as soon as the nightmares started again. Maine was snowcapped and cold in February, but after spending the last two months in Vermont, it wasn’t an unfamiliar thing.

For now, tears frozen to her face, legs numb and lungs still burning, she walks until she finds somewhere deserted and enclosed enough to crash...

 

 

~*~

 

“Lose your coat?”

Daniel just shakes the rest of the snow off and rolls his eyes. When Moira is _still_ staring afterward, he answers: “Gave it to some kid who looked an hour away from freezing to death, sue me.”

“See, now that’s how you do random acts of kindness.” She replies with a smile “Rather than... whatever it is Jesse does.”

He nods in slight agreement, but Jesse is a special case. He can’t stand seeing other kids on the street, not after getting kicked out. Daniel doesn’t fault him for it, even at the times when it causes more trouble than it’s worth. “Where is he, anyways? Wasn’t he supposed to be back tonight?”

With a shrug, Moira turns back and heads into the kitchen “Haven’t heard from him, but he’s probably just pinned down by his nieces.” She’s probably right, usually is anyways, and Jesse has never been one to say no to those girls. Sarah would kick him out when she felt like it.

 


	2. Alex 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look, everyone makes bad decisions when they've been sleeping outside.

Morning comes slow. Alex is stiff and cold- though the extra coat had certainly helped -but the sun is up and she can’t stay in a wood shed forever. It’s never a comfortable place to sleep, but she’s usually too tired to care when she makes use of one and at least it keeps the wind out.

At this point she’s used to the snow, though it doesn’t mean she’s dressed properly for it. Her sneakers, though new, do nothing to keep her feet dry or warm, and if it weren’t for the second coat the rest of her would be just as frozen. She spent the majority of her day in the local library, trying to track down any sign of a proper job. What kept her in Vermont so long had been an old man who needed someone to split and stack wood for him. He had seemed lonely, and his children lived out of state; so whenever Alex had finished for the day, she’d spend the evening sitting in front of a stove listening to stories about granite quarries and Irish and Italian immigrant rivalries.

The man had paid her exuberantly, or maybe that was normal for manual labor in the winter... But it had been enough to keep her holed up in a seedy motel for a while, and get her some warmer clothes on top of it. Once the wood was gone, she didn’t feel right imposing on his kindness further, though he had offered to continue to pay her throughout winter. She was running on what was left, and it made more sense to save it for food and crash outside until she had an income again.

Not pleasant, but doable.

She probably could have stayed in Vermont if she’d bothered to try...

Except the nightmares had started again, the fear crept back in, and she found herself unable to sit still or sleep. Just like every place before. The memories would stay low and quiet and background for a while, weeks or months until _boom_ , everything was back and real and-

 _Breathe_.

No use throwing herself into a panic right now.

She hung around the library until closing, fruitless in her search thus far as most places weren’t hiring until summer, or spring at the very least. It’s dark again when she gets outside, but not nearly as cold as the night before. After a quick flip through her wallet, she makes her way towards the first light that will mean food.

Her throat still hurts and breathing winter air all night definitely did not help; but one cup of cheap tea and a handful of little honey straws later she feels better. The cup leaks warmth into her fingers, and she spends a long time just sitting in the dinky excuse of a café. Watching people outside, watching snow fall, checking the time every few minutes and waiting for the moment she has to leave.

“Excuse me?” She looks away from the window to find a young man leaning against her table. His hair is bright green and currently full of melting snow. For a minute she can do nothing but stare, and he speaks again before she does “Sorry to intrude, but that’s my partner’s jacket.”

“Huh?” It takes her a bit to process, then she remembers, right, that guy in the alley had given her his coat. “Oh... Yeah, he gave it to me last night. I can- _you_ can take it back to him if you want- it’s not really as cold tonight.” She paused a moment “How can you tell?”

“Patch on the shoulder.” She looks down to where he’s pointing and sees a military style patch, seemingly torn from something else and sewn to the right shoulder. “And if he gave it to you- fine by me, I was surprised to see it on someone else- Daniel’s not really the feed the masses, suffer the children type.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Alex replied, last night was much less hazy to her now “I don’t know many people who’d risk getting the shit kicked out of them for a total stranger.”

The green haired man frowned as he took the seat across from her “What do you mean?” After looking up at the time again she explained the events of the previous night, watching his eyes go so wide it almost looked comical. After she finished speaking, he was silent for a moment in thought “Alright, alright, new idea: you come stay in our house.”

Alex almost choked on the tea in her mouth, and after forcing it down managed to stumble out “- do you make a habit of inviting strangers into your home?”

He just shrugged, as though this were perfectly normal “Sometimes. If they’ve got nowhere to go.”

“...Why?”

His expression faded into something like a grimace “Because I know what it’s like to just have the street and I know the friends that let me crash on couches probably saved my life. Sleeping outside when you _have_ to sucks, it’s cold and it’s uncomfortable and nobody should have to do it. If I stand between someone being able to stay inside versus out, I’m gonna offer. ”

“What’s the catch?” She asked, eyes narrowing. He seemed friendly enough- more like an excitable child than a genuine adult - but... something felt off, something felt vaguely like _danger_.

“No catch. Well, buy your own food. But other than that, no catch. No expectations, just a bed, and a fireplace, and you know, _not_ sleeping in the snow.” Not sleeping in the snow sounded like heaven...

She could always change her mind tomorrow, right now it was dark, she was full of muscle aches and not enough food, and the prospect of sitting in front of a fireplace was pretty damn tempting-

“Plus the three of us know the town pretty well, could always help find you a job if you’re gonna stick around here long term.”

Screw it.

“Alright.” There was still an incredulity to Alex’s tone, still a wavering disbelief as she watched his face light up.

“Excellent! I hope you don’t mind a walk, I don’t have my car.”

“No, no a walk is fine.”

“It’s not far, a couple miles- I’m Jesse by the way, Jesse Addison.” He offered her his hand, which she shook, still feeling a little bit punch drunk from the turn of events.

“Alex Blackwood.”


	3. Alex - 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few introductions

The house itself was a two story brick object, with a covered front porch and what looked like a massive expanse of back yard. Alex hesitated as Jesse opened the door, something still off, something in her head still pushing that this could be _dangerous_. But the warmth and light spilling out from inside was enough that she just- didn’t care.

“The fireplace is in the living room, off the hall there-” Jesse pointed over to the left “-I’m gonna go get Moira.” He paused for a moment, probably because she hadn’t moved from the front step, and gave her a wide smile “Go on, it’s alright. Go warm up.”

Trying not to trip in her haste to get out of the coats and her shoes, Alex made her way into the living room while Jesse went up the staircase directly in front of the door.

Alex sat with her back to the fireplace and started to take in the room. The dining room was visible back across the hall, most of this room was taken up by a pair of L-shaped couches, set just far enough apart that they made a semi-enclosed area in front of the fire. Bookshelves full of movies and games, consoles from all eras, a large pair of speakers with tape decks, CD players and a record player stacked one on top of the other in between. The walls barely held an inch of empty space, artwork in all kinds of styles, though all with the same signature in the corner: a small M.H. in shimmering gold ink.

“Hello,”

She jumped at the voice as a small woman rounded the corner from the stairs to the entryway. It took a moment to connect that she was the one who had spoken, her voice was much deeper than Alex would have guessed. This must be the other roommate.

“Hi, I’m-”’

“Alex, yeah I’ve got it. Do you want tea?”

She opened her mouth to respond but the woman had already turned to head for the kitchen. Not quite sure what to do, she got back to her feet and made her way over. The dining room and kitchen were separated by a breakfast counter, on top of which the woman was now sitting, watching the teapot in silence.

“So you managed to twist Jesse’s arm into getting a place to sleep,” She looked over at Alex and seemed to size her up “or maybe he twisted yours, if you’re not gone in a couple days with half our shit I’ll consider getting to know you better.”

Frowning slightly, Alex started to protest but she was cut over again:

“-Don’t bother. You can say whatever you’d like but Jesse has _literally_ no setting other than ‘adopt every lost kitten he comes across’. If you’re a good person, great, we can talk later.” The teapot had begun to whistle, and she slid off the counter to fill three mugs. “I’m Moira, by the way.”

As the room began to fill with the smell of various teas, Alex found her voice again “What kind are they?”

“Mine is ginger and lemon, yours is Earl Grey, because it’s inoffensive and smells like sugary cereal, Daniel’s is some rolled up green pearl something or other that’s going to over-steep if he’s late.” She took a deep breath of the steam coming out of her cup “There’s honey and sugar in the corner cabinet.”

So she busied herself finding the honey, picking up the mug Moira had pointed out and letting the warmth seep into her hands while she scanned the cabinet. “Thank you.”

“No problem, kid.”

The door opened and closed in the hall, followed by the sound of someone kicking off their shoes, and a quiet “What?” the voice was partially familiar, but the man who came into the kitchen, jacket in hand, was not. “did- _ah_. Never mind then.” he seemed a little exasperated, but nonetheless he smiled at Alex “Nice to know you’re not a human popsicle.”

Oh.

He was the guy from the alley. Daniel, if she was remembering what Jesse had told her right.

It had really been too dark to make out features last night, deep olive skin and even darker hair sat at odds with eyes too bright and cold a blue to be real. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what she _could_ say, she wouldn’t be particularly thrilled with the situation if she was in his place.

Luckily she was saved from speaking by Moira, who slid off the counter and pushed the other mug towards him.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Alright, alright.” Daniel dropped his coat on the back of a chair and started fishing for tea leaves. Alex backed further into the kitchen as he did, trying to stay out of the way, trying to formulate a clear enough thought to speak. “You could let me do this myself, you know.”

Moira just shrugged, spooning one, two, three heaping scoops of sugar into her own mug.

“Thank you- for last night.” Thanks seemed to be her repeat right now, but she had little else to offer. Where had Jesse gone? Why hadn’t he come back and helped smooth things out?

Daniel looked back up “No problem, this place can attract some pretty garbage people, although usually not _that_ bad in the winter. Once summer rolls around and people on their way to and from the beach start crowding the place, though? They don’t think they’ll be around long enough to deal with consequences.”

Oh, great, so she was just extra unlucky.

Or, maybe the opposite.


End file.
